A motley assortment of blind folks are forced to fend for themselves in the hostile wilderness after they are the sole survivors of a plane crash. Director Michael Caffey keeps the gripping story moving along at a brisk pace, takes some time to develop the characters, maintains a tough serious tone throughout, and generates a good deal of tension. John W. Bloch's tight script not only offers a touching message about the resiliency of disabled people and the need for our protagonists to set aside their differences in order to work together as a team so they can all survive, but also sets up assorted forms of cruel peril that include the bitter cold, a pack of vicious wolves, and a rickety old wooden bridge. The sound acting from the able cast rates as another substantial asset: Milton Berle as sour grouch Sam Fuller, Sean Garrison as troubled Vietnam veteran Mark Larson, Dina Merrill as the sweet Emily Garth, Barry Nelson as the selfish and deceitful Alex Swain, Lesley Ann Warren as the fragile Deborah Cabot, Alejandro Rey as the concerned Ramon Rahos, Tippy Walker as Ramon's pregnant wife Christine, and Arthur O'Connell as the amiable Larry Wise. Howard Schwartz's sharp cinematography provides lots of nice shots of the beautiful sylvan scenery. Mark Bucci's robust score hits the stirring spot. A nifty little nail-biter.

****SPOILERS**** One of the first and best made for TV movie ever made that has to do with a plane of blind people on their way to a seeing eye or blind persons convention in Seattle that goes off course and crashes in the wilds of Northern Canada with the seven blind survivors having to find their way back to civilization before the cold weather as well as wolf packs finishes them all off. Lead by blind Vietnam Veteran Mark Larson, Sean Garrison, the group find their way to an old abandoned railroad track that they hope can show them the way out. Only for one of them Larry Wise, Arthur O'Connell, who ends up falling through the cracks and to his death into the rushing stream below when he made a wrong step.The blind people's attempt to get rescued was sabotaged by one of them Alex Swain, Barry Nelson, who stole their supply of food and water and tried to blame Mark for it as well as revealing that he chickened out in Vietnam and left six of his comrades or GI's to get slaughtered by the Viet Cong which he felt he'll do to him and his fellow blind men & women lost in the woods. There's also the I'm all for me and no one else Sam Fuller, Milton Berle,who feels that Alex is nothing but a lowlife rat and tries to have him fall to his death off a cranky wooden bridge by leading him , with his walking cane, the wrong way. Only to have Mark,whom Alex was trying to screw and blame for all the trouble the blind survivor found themselves in, to save his sorry a** making up for his cowardice that he showed back in Vietnam.***SPOILERS*** Almost too emotionally drained to watch ending with the blind survivors after surviving the cold and a wolf attack find their way to safety by a friendly Rin Rin Tin like dog, not a wild and dangerous 150 pound Timber Wolf, coming to their rescue and having both his master the little boy and his pop leading them back to their home as well as civilization! Great performances by everyone in the cast with Milton Berle a real standout in him playing both a bad as well as good guy part. That by him finally "seeing" the light and realizes that by just trying to save himself he'll not only jeopardize everyone else's lives but if he in some way survives he'll also have to live with their deaths, like Mark in what he did in Vietnam, on his conscious for the rest of his life.

Seven in Darkness (1969) *** (out of 4) A plane full of blind people are being taken to Seattle during a very bad storm when it crashes into the wilderness. Naturally, everyone on the plane who could see are now dead and it's up to seven people, including a pregnant woman, to try and make it out of the woods even though they can't see.This here was the first ABC Movie of the Week and it's pretty funny to see how much all future TV movies can pretty much be seen here. You've got a very interesting story to grab your attention. You've got famous faces like Milton Berle, Barry Nelson, Leslie Ann Warren and Arthur O'Connell. You've got a short running time that goes by very quickly. And you've got the cliffhanger moments that build into a commercial. SEVEN IN DARKNESS has several flaws but there's no question that it holds your attention from the opening moments until the closing credits and it's certainly worth viewing.If you're into disaster movies then you're going to enjoy this as the idea because it is quite good. How would seven blind people make it down off a mountain? With a running time of just 73 minutes nothing is given to us in great detail. In fact, I would have liked to have seen the "how" a tad bit more because it seems their journey was just a tad bit too easy for the most part. Still, there are some tense scenes including one where a couple members are attacked by wolves and another where they must try to find a way to cross a river. The performances for the most part are good and on the whole SEVEN IN DARKNESS is a good little film.

Seven In Darkness is a top notch 1969 made for television movie that the whole family can watch.I watched this movie for the first time a couple of days ago and I thought that for a 1969 television movie it was so good.I rate this film in the category of "Dr.Cook's Garden" a made for television movie from 1970.The cast is excellent.And who would have thought that Milton Berle the funny man comedian could play such a dramatic role?I was on the edge of my seat and hoping for a good outcome.This movie makes you realize how fortunate we are that we can see and that we take our vision for granted.I recommend this movie for the entire family.I have this movie.